What makes Grilli cool is: (A) We found about about his signing from the above tweet…at 1 AM this morning, (B) he has the coolest Twitter name of anyone on the Pirates, and (C) he is having a pretty impressive season at AAA.

Grilli, 34, has a 1.94 ERA in 32 2/3 innings for AAA-Lehigh Valley (PHI). He has struck out 43 and walked 12. He played for Clint Hurdle in 2008 as a member of the Rockies, so Clint may have had something to do with this signing. In that year, Grilli posted a 2.93 ERA over 61 1/3 innings for Colorado. He’s played for 5 different teams over 8 Major League seasons and was the 4th overall pick in the 1997 Draft.

Grilli’s Minor League deal with the Phillies stated that a team could offer him a Major League deal and the Phillies would have to either match it, or release Grilli so he could sign with that club. That is what happened in here, so the Pirates are giving up nothing for him.

A move will have to be made to make room for Grilli on both the 25 and 40-man rosters. All signs seem to point to the Bucs optioning Chris Leroux and moving Evan Meek from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL, but nothing is official yet.